silicon

«silicon» in Mova's school dictionary: a chemical element (symbol Si), a grey shiny solid that… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (silicon — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Silicon is a chemical element (symbol Si), a grey shiny solid that is the main part of sand and many rocks. tree →

2) Silicon is used to make computer chips and solar panels. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, sand is mostly silicon dioxide (silica), used to make glass. In computing, chips are made on thin silicon slices. Silicon Valley in California is a famous area for tech companies.

examples

• Computer chips are made of silicon. tree →
• Sand contains a lot of silicon. tree →
• Silicon Valley is home to big tech companies. tree →
• Solar panels use silicon to turn sunlight into electricity. tree →
• Silicon's symbol is Si. tree →
• Glass is made by melting sand rich in silicon. tree →

note

Trap: «silicon» (the element, chips) is not «silicone» (a soft rubbery material used in baking moulds and sealants).

In the corpora

• Quartz is one of the most common minerals, made of silicon and oxygen, and most sand is quartz.
• In the late 1950s engineers invented the microchip, which put many tiny parts onto a small piece of silicon.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «silicon» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.